“Things were going reasonably well. Trump said ‘let the Syrians decide who should run their country’ and peace talks were breaking out. Al-Qaeda and ISIS were on the run, maybe defeated. It looks like maybe someone didn’t like that. Assad, they claim, now went and released gas to kill a bunch of people.”

“What happened 4 years ago, in 2013? This whole thing about crossing the red line. Ever since then the neocons have been yelling and screaming. Even part of the [Trump] administration is still yelling and screaming about Assad using poison gasses on his people 4 years ago. Not quite true.”

“It doesn’t any make sense for Assad, under these conditions, to all of the sudden use poison gas. I think it’s zero chance he would have done this.”

Like this:

We have no way of confirming these facts, and I don’t really doubt them, but I could write a post called “1000 Terrifying Facts You Probably Never Knew About The United States of America” before my first coffee of the day.

North Korea is way creepier than you think, more terrifying than you know, and far more bizarre than you can ever imagine.

North Korea — one of the most repressive states in the world — is way creepier than you think, more terrifying than you know, and far more bizarre than you can ever imagine. The truth about one of the most isolated and ruthlessly ruled nations on Earth will shock the hell out of you…

What do you know of North Korea —the most secretive country in the world? That it denounces the United States as the root of all evil in the Western world? That it is developing long-range nuclear missiles capable of reaching the White House if the U.S. ever threatened its sovereignty?

That the Hermit Kingdom is run by a fat brat with a ridiculous haircut? That spiked hair, sarcasm, and owning a Bible are banned and economic hardship and famines are censored in the eccentric East Asian nation? That there is absolutely no independent media, no satellite TV, and no foreign newspapers in Kim Jong-un’s totalitarian state?

That’s right. But North Korea — one of the most repressive states in the world — is way creepier than you think, more terrifying than you know, and far more bizarre than you can ever imagine. Here’re the top 10 facts about one of the most isolated and ruthlessly ruled nations on Earth that will shock the hell out of you…

These camps are characterized by systematic abuses, including meager rations that imperil health and can lead to starvation, virtually no medical care, lack of proper housing and clothes, regular mistreatment including sexual assault and torture by guards, and public executions.

2. North Korea’s sanctions-hit economy operates on a black market

North Korea’s regime gets much of its income by exporting counterfeit drugs such as Viagra, illicit narcotics such as methamphetamine, counterfeit goods, human trafficking, counterfeit cigarettes, and counterfeit $100 U.S. bills.

Besides the illegal drugs and the counterfeit currency, North Korea brings in a lot of money by selling rifles and missiles to terror groups and rogue nations. Many of these illegal activities are undertaken at the direction of Kim Jong-un, with their proceeds going towards advancing the country’s nuclear and conventional arms production.

The poverty-stricken subjects of North Korean despot Kim Jong-un are riding around in trucks powered by WOOD. The ancient vehicles – not seen in the West since World War II – use burners fuelled by charcoal and even corn cobs soaked in old oil. They are rarely stopped for checks because they produce huge clouds of stinking, acrid smoke as they move around.

4. North Korea goes dark at night

North Korea doesn’t have enough power. Its total electric output per year is, on average, 15 terawatt hours for 24 million citizens; America’s energy output in 2013 was over 4,000 terawatt hours. The amount of electricity North Koreans use in a year could power South Korean capital Seoul for less than four months. But the state argues that the country is not weakened by its lack of electricity and that “the essence of society is not on flashy lights.”

North Korea appears as a black expanse of sea between China (left) and South Korea (right). Photo: NASA/Reuters

Half of the nation’s 24 million citizens live in extreme poverty. In 2016, North Koreans were warned to be prepared to eat roots of plants once again as the country headed towards another devastating famine. Crippling food shortages have caused widespread illness as thousands are forced to survive on so-called “wild foods” such as grass and tree bark, claims Amnesty International:

The chronic food shortages have forced North Koreans to eating barely digestible or even poisonous plants, consigning the most needy to hunger and illness. They have been adding grass or roots to existing foodstuffs to make food go further, such as mixing grass with ground corn to make corn gruel.

6. North Korean children are required to bring their own desks and chairs.

8. North Korea has 28 state-approved haircuts…

…18 for women and 10 for men. In 2015, the communist state ordered young men to model their hairstyle after that of Kim Jong-un, while young women were told to keep their hair bobbed like Kim’s wife Ri Sol-ju.

9. North Korea exercises a “three generations of punishment” policy…

…which means, if you commit a crime or try and escape the country’s brutal prison camps, your grandparents, parents, and children will be punished.

10. It’s 106, not 2017, in North Korea because the country bases its calendar on its founder Kim Il-Sung’s date of birth: 15 April 1912.

There is a real chance that this doofus president might ignite a war with North Korea. I bet you China and Russia are pondering if they should engage the US military right now, as the US would be divided in three wars. No one will win, and it will be the end of humanity as we know it.

The plague is wished upon this bloody stupid president, and all those who elected this narcissistic turd.

North Korean state media warned on Tuesday of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of American aggression as a U.S. Navy strike group steamed toward the western Pacific.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has urged China to do more to rein in its impoverished neighbor, said in a Tweet that North Korea was “looking for trouble” and the United States would “solve the problem” with or without China’s help.

Tension has escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula, with talk of military action by the United States gaining traction following its strikes last week against Syria and amid concerns the reclusive North may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test.

North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the country was prepared to respond to any aggression by the United States.

“Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland,” it said.

South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn warned of “greater provocations” by North Korea and ordered the military to intensify monitoring and to ensure close communication with the United States.

“It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People’s Assembly,” said Hwang, acting leader since former president Park Geun-hye was removed amid a graft scandal.

Trump said in a Tweet that a trade deal between China and the United States would be “far better for them if they solved the North Korea problem”.

“If China decides to help, that would be great,” he said. “If not, we will solve the problem without them!”

Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Florida last week and Trump pressed Xi to do more to rein in North Korea.

The North convened a Supreme People’s Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions attended by leader Kim Jong Un, and reported a successful national budget execution and personnel appointments, official KCNA news agency said.

There was no mention of its nuclear weapons program or being under threat from the United States, according to KCNA.

South Korean officials took pains to quell talk in social media of an impending security crisis or outbreak of war.

“We’d like to ask for precaution so as not to get blinded by exaggerated assessment about the security situation on the Korean peninsula,” Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said.

Russia was “in an inch from the confrontation” with the United States following the US missile strike on the Syrian Ash Sha’irat airfield, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday.

“And if it turns out that the terrorists spread the [poison] gas, what the United States will do? If terrorists find out that the United States will support them every time they spread the gas, what will be with the region? Russian officials said they were an inch from the confrontation [with the United States],” Rouhani said, citing Russian officials, as quoted by the ISNA news agency. He also said the missile strike damages the negotiating process and underscored the political track as the only solution to the six-year Syrian crisis.

“As for Syria, the final solution must be political,” Rouhani said. “What the US has done has harmed the negotiation process.”

Comment: Did the US support the terrorists spreading lethal gas? Does this fit with the resolve to completely eliminate ISIS?

On April 7, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat. US President Donald Trump said that the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria’s Idlib province on April 4, which resulted in the death of over 80 people, an incident which Washington blames on the Syrian government.

The Syrian foreign minister denied the government’s involvement in the Idlib incident, saying it had never nor would it ever use chemical weapons on either civilians or terrorists operating in the country.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on April 5 that the airstrike near Khan Shaykhun by the Syrian air force hit a terrorist warehouse that stored chemical weapons slated for delivery to Iraq, and called on the UN Security Council to launch a proper investigation into the incident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on April 6 that groundless accusations in the chemical weapons incident in Syria’s Idlib were unacceptable before the investigation into the matter had been carried out while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday criticized the US missile attack as a violation of the international law.

The US missile attack claimed the lives of 10 people, an officer of the Syrian Armed Forces told Sputnik. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the attack left two Syrian servicemen missing, four killed, and six suffering severe injuries from the fire. Homs Governor Talal Barazi said on April 7 that at least two civilians from a nearby village and five Syrian servicemen were killed.

After the missile attack, the Russian Defense Ministry suspended a point-to-point communications link with the US military under the memorandum of understanding on de-confliction in Syria.

The civil war in Syria has been lasting for around six years with government troops fighting against numerous opposition factions and terror organizations such as al-Nusra Front and Daesh, outlawed in Russia.

Comment: If Russian intel is correct, the scenario that the Syrian air force hit the terrorist warehouse storing chemical weapons for use in Iraq means those particular weapons are no longer a threat to the Iraqi population and military, including US boots on the ground. Despite the tragedy in Syria, perhaps one was avoided in Iraq.